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| Invincible | |
 Cover art Invincible #52. Art by Ryan Ottley. |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Image Comics |
| First appearance | Savage Dragon 102 (August 2002) |
| Created by | Robert Kirkman Cory Walker |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Markus Sebastian "Mark" Grayson |
| Species | Viltrumite/Human |
| Place of origin | Earth |
| Team affiliations | The Pact Teen Team Guardians of the Globe |
| Abilities | Superhuman Strength, Speed, Extended life span, Endurance, Durability and Flight |
Invincible (Mark Grayson) is a fictional character, an Image Comics superhero. Created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker, the character first appeared in Savage Dragon #102 (August 2002).
Invincible is the teenaged son of Omni-Man, an extraterrestrial superhero of the Viltrumite race, recently revealed to be more than he seems. Invincible inherited his father’s superhuman strength and ability to fly and he has sworn to protect the Earth. He has had trouble adjusting to his newfound powers and coping with the reality of his origins.
Invincible began in 2003, and was a debut title in Image's new superhero line, one reminiscent of the Golden and Silver Ages of comics, as opposed to the more modern and dark comics, such as Spawn and Savage Dragon, which Image is known for.
After several months of attention from the comics media, Invincible became the most popular and best-selling title in the Image Comics line since Spawn.[citation needed] Wizard: The Comics Magazine has given the book its coveted Book of the Month award for best monthly comic.
Contents |
Creators
While Robert Kirkman has been the sole writer of the series, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley have contributed the art. Cory Walker co-created the book and provided art from #1 to #7. Ryan Ottley assumed art duties with issue #8 and has been pencilling since. Kirkman has provided back-up space for a few aspiring comic creators, most notably Benito Cereno and Nate Bellegarde.
Character biography and synopsis
Family Matters (Issues 1-4)
'Markus Sebastian "Mark" Grayson is a teenage superhero who calls himself Invincible. He was a normal high school senior with a normal part-time job and otherwise normal life, except his father Nolan is the superhero Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on the planet. At the age of 17, Mark begins to display superpowers, which come from his father being a member of the Viltrumite race, who, according to Nolan, pioneer the galaxy on a mission of benevolence and enlightenment. As Invincible, Mark begins working as a superhero, with his father acting as his mentor, and meeting other heroes. Mark worked occasionally with a superhero team called the Teen Team (consisting of Robot, Rex Plode, Dupli-Kate and Atom Eve), from there discovering that his Physics teacher has been turning his students into human bombs. He stops his teacher with the help of the heroine, Atom Eve. He also foils a plan to make an army of robots, created by the Mauler Twins. Meanwhile Omni-Man is kidnapped by aliens, taken to another dimension, but returns after what seems to be only a few days, but was actually is eight months to him.
Eight Is Enough (Issues 5-8)
Invincible goes into space to fight Allen the Alien. After an initially hostile encounter, Mark discovers that Allen has actually been employed to test the strength of superheroes. Allen realizes he is on the wrong planet and leaves. Mark goes to college with his friend William, where he is attacked by a mysterious robot zombie (later revealed to be one of DA Sinclair's 'Reanimen') and in the process, William learns of his secret identity. Mark begins dating his classmate, Amber Bennet and Eve's boyfriend Rex Plode has an affair with Dupli-Kate. Meanwhile, Earth's premier superhero team, The Guardians Of The Globe, are brutally murdered by Omni-Man. Only the de-powered Black Sampson survives. At the funeral, Sampson's butler destroys the graves, jealous that somebody killed the Guardians before he did. Nobody knows that Omni-Man killed the heroes, but an investigation is launched. After the funeral, the Mauler Twins dig up the body of the Immortal.
Perfect Strangers (Issues 9-13)
The Guardians Of The Globe hold auditions for a new team. All of the Teen Team (except Atom Eve) are hired into the new team (led by Robot) by Cecil Steadman, head of the Global Defence Agency. Monster Girl and Shrinking Ray are also hired. Mark and Eve stop a team of criminals called the Lizard League from poisoning the water supply. The Mauler Twins reanimate The Immortal, the leader of the old Guardians, who fights Omni-Man. Invincible arrives to see his father rip the Immortal in half. Omni-Man then explains that the Viltrumites are actually a race of alien invaders, and he was sent to initiate a hostile takeover of Earth. His father describes everyone on the planet as meaningless and insignificant. Mark fights his father and the ensuing battle results in thousands of deaths. Just as Omni-Man is about to kill his son, he flies off into space. After Mark recovers, he is hired by Cecil Steadman as a professional super hero. Eve and Mark's friend William embark on a relationship. Mark's mother is left into a state of shock. Invincible flies into space to find that Allen the Alien has returned, warning him that his father is a Viltrumite. Mark replies that Allen is too late and that he knows and he has turned against his father. Mark says that all that is left is to finish high school.
Further
While Mark works with Cecil to stop various threats, a man named Angstrom Levy, a genius with the power to teleport between dimensions, devises a plot to assemble every version of himself in other dimensions in order to absorb all of their knowledge in order to benefit mankind. He is aided by the Mauler Twins, recurring villains in the series, to build the device. Upon the completion and start of the machine, Invincible intervenes due to Cecil receiving information that the Mauler Twins were operating in the vicinity. During the fight with the Mauler Twins (and every version of the pair from alternate dimensions), Angstrom pleads to not kill Invincible while removing himself from the machine, causing it to explode due to interrupting the process. Mark is rescued from the rubble by the Guardians of the Globe. Only one Mauler from this dimension survives to discover Angstrom Levy, who claims that the process was a success although it left him hideously disfigured. Before escaping to another dimension for medical treatment, Angstrom vows revenge on Invincible, "the one who interfered" (although Angstrom doesn't remember that the malfunction was his own fault).
Later, when meeting his father on another world, Mark learns he has a little half-brother and that his father has moved on. When a contingent of Viltrumites arrives on the planet, he and Nolan fight them to the best of their abilities. In the aftermath, Nolan is taken prisoner. As he is taken away Nolan tells Mark to read his books. The Viltrumites who take Nolan give Mark the assignment that his father had, believing he will fulfill it due to his heritage. Mark has a deadline of 100 years. Cecil has suggested this could be a trick to lure them into a false sense of security before an impending Viltrumite invasion. Mark brings his half-brother to Earth (at the insistence of the baby's mother), and Mark's mom agrees to raise him.
Mark takes Amber to visit Eve in Africa, who has been using her powers to help the locals while learning more about them. Eve is annoyed by the fact that Mark brings his girlfriend with him as she had been hoping to get closer to him, and even tries to convince Mark that Amber is not right for him, but he remains oblivious to her motives.
The night before they plan to leave, Mark receives a threatening phone call and rushes home to find his mother and half-brother in the clutches of Angstrom Levy. Levy uses his powers to plunge Mark through a series of dangerous alternate realities in the hope of weakening him enough to be able to kill him (it is at this point during the storyline where Invincible is teleported to the Marvel Universe and meets Spider-Man and the New Avengers in Marvel Team-Up #14). By the end of these events and seeing the injuries Angstrom has inflicted on his mother, Mark is so angry that he brutally assaults Levy as they fall through various dimensions, ultimately killing the villain, leaving Mark in shock as he believed him to be stronger, and able to take such punishment.
Stranded in a wasteland, Mark is discovered by a version of the Guardians of the Globe from 15 years in the future who have traveled back in time to rescue him. Atom Eve reveals that she always loved him, and tells Mark to let her present-day self know how he feels about her, so she can have closure. Mark makes the decision to tell Eve he is not romantically interested in her, but upon their next meeting they kiss, and are dispatched to space to battle an incoming Martian invasion fleet before they can resolve what happened between the two of them.
Meanwhile, in Montana, Rex Splode, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Ray are dispatched to prevent a nuclear war brought about by the Lizard League. In the ensuing battle, Dupli-Kate is killed, Shrinking Ray is eaten, and Rex Splode has his hand bitten off and is shot in the head.
Returning from space Atom Eve confronts the newly single Mark about their relationship. After learning that Mark has been in contact with a future version of Eve and may have feelings for her, she leaves crying. The next day Mark has lunch with his mother and learns of her new relationship, during lunch they are interrupted by a Viltrumite woman. She again warns Mark (after smashing his face) that he is the appointed agent of Earth and must prepare for the Viltrumite invasion; he respectfully declines.
During this time Allen the Alien is back on his way to the Coalition of Planets after learning of Nolan's books and rebellion against Viltrum, when the Viltrumite ship leaving Earth crosses his path. After a quick fight Allen allows himself to be captured in the hopes that he will be placed in the same prison that Nolan is currently waiting for execution. Allen soon crosses paths with Nolan who is nearing full strength, having recovered from the injuries sustained during his capture.
Back on Earth, whilst it seemed that Mark had rid the world of D.A. Sinclair and his cyborg 'Reanimen' by capturing Sinclair and handing him to the government, Cecil Steadman is later seen offering Sinclair a job working for the government. This soon comes to Mark's attention when he and the majority of the US's superheroes are captured by Doc Seismic, after a superbrawl against Seismic's minions. Darkwing arrives to the rescue, bringing with him a battalion of government sanctioned Reanimen. Turning the tide, Seismic is soon defeated, but Mark is outraged that Cecil is working with D.A. Sinclair and has commissioned him to build his Reanimen for the government.
Mark confronts Cecil at the Pentagon, and is led into a bright white room. Mark realises he has been led into a trap when Cecil reveals he is surrounded by an army of these new Reanimen. A fight ensues, with Cecil setting the Reanimen on Mark. While Mark is busy fighting, Cecil justifies his actions, stating that he does what is necessary to protect the planet, whatever it takes. Cecil also reveals that the receiver in Mark's ear, formerly used to receive instructions from Cecil, also houses a weapon that disables Marks equilibrium, causing him immense pain. Mark escapes, making it to the Guardians' headquarters. After telling the Guardians of Cecil's true nature, they join Mark in fighting the Reanimen, who have followed, along with Cecil. Eventually Cecil calls off his forces, stating that he and Mark 'are done'. Before Cecil leaves, Mark threatens Cecil, making him into promise to leave his family alone. Back at Mark's home, he and Eve share a kiss.
While Invincible and the former Teen Team members quits the Guardians of the Globe in retailation, Oliver begins his training as a superhero, taking for himself the name of Kid Omni-Man, acting essentially as Invincible's sidekick (it should be noted that, due to Art Rosembaum giving them new costumes, the general public briefly thinks they are a duo of superpowered fans of Invincible, called Invinciboy and Kid Omni-Man). While Invincible attempts to talk Olivier out his new moniker, Oliver refuses, wanting to redeem Omni-Man's name in the eyes of the public.
While Oliver's powers grow at an accelerated rate, granting him in mere days abilities almost on par with Mark's ones, he begins to display the same sociopathic tendencies shown by other members of the Viltrumite race. After killing the Mauler Twins in a carelessly brutal display of his powers, Cecil approaches him, proposing to "clean up his mess" for him, and lauding him as a "very special child". Invincible returns from stopping a missile in space and "reminds" Cecil not to bother his family, he then takes Oliver away to discuss what happened. Oliver shows no remorse whatsoever, claiming his killings to be just retribution, and since humans on Earth are killed or kill on daily basis, he should not be constrained in any way. While Mark tries to convince him on the contrary, Oliver asks if Mark ever has those same thoughts; Mark quietly admits "sometimes".
During a date with Atom Eve, Invincible is able to elaborate his feelings about Oliver, his mother's boyfriend knowing about his secret identity, and how his superheroic background denies him the possibility of a true romance with Eve herself. Pressured by his girlfriend, he tries to have a talk with Oliver and his mother, but barely manages to ground him upon hearing about his mistrust and disgust about the self-centered and selfish human society, and snaps at his mother about her revealing his secret identity.
Invincible tries to spend the rest of his day in a normal fashion: asking Eve out, helping his friend William to move out their former dorm room, and patrolling the city. At the Stronghold Penitentiary he vents his built-up anger over Titan, unwillingly starting a fight that leads to Multi-Paul being freed. The fight is not without consequences for Titan too, since it costs his allies, and pressures him to pick a side with Isotope, the only companion still loyal to him.
Returning home, Invincible meets with Eve, delaying their date but settling up their problems by promising her a day for themselves only, and Oliver, flying in the airspace above their home. Oliver finally agrees to respect and understand humanity, if not for their deeds, because of his brother's faith in them. Invincible and Kid Omniman share a hug, but Angstrom Levy's probes (installed in front of Grayson's home since his first date with Atom Eve) catch a dejected and forced grimace on Oliver's face.
While on Earth Eve finally pushes Mark into consummating their relation, in space Omni-Man is due for his execution. Allen the Alien, kept restrained and supervised because of his inability to be killed by any conventional means and his large invincibility, stages a massive jail-break, and frees him by killing one of his jailers with his massive strength. Impressed by the physical prowess of his new ally, Nolan reveals him the "secret" of the Viltrumite race: Viltrumites are near-extinct, with the pure-blooded population reduced to less than fifty individuals.
Angstrom Levy is revealed to be spying on Mark as he sits atop his roof, via a small robotic camera. He is showing sitting in a room with many monitors, all with videos of Mark playing, and also with small electrical globes attached in his head. He has adopted a super villain style costume, complete with cape and new scars on his face from the previous encounter with Invincible.
After spying on Mark for a number of months, Levy reveals his plan: gather evil versions of Invincible from other dimensions, and unleash them upon the first Mark's world. While this creates worldwide panic and death, the main goal is to ruin Invincible's reputation and cause him suffering. The world's superheroes unite, some giving their lives to battle and kill the murderous doubles of Invincible. In the end, Levy's plan fails as the Earth, though devastated, was not conquered. He escapes, but loses a limb, and upon arrival to the dimension of his doctors, loses their support and is informed that he now 'works for them'. Meanwhile, whilst helping clean up the wreckage on earth left by the 'Invincible war', Mark is confronted by a battle scarred Viltrumite named Conquest. Conquest states that he has come to earth to assess Mark's efforts towards preparing the planet for Viltrumite takeover. After a brief exchange of words Mark and Conquest prepare to fight.
During Invincible's fight with Conquest, it is revealed that D.A. Sinclair and Cecil are attempting to turn the Invincible doubles into reanimen, but they are still weeks away from use. The battle causes immense destruction, and with most of the world's superheroes dead or severely injured, Invincible is on his own. Oliver attempts to assist him, but Conquest nearly kills him. Eve awakens form her coma, and once she learns of the fight, charges into battle. Her powers, however, are no match for the Viltrumite and she is quickly killed. Invincible then vows to destroy Conquest no matter what.
Supporting cast
Non-superpowered
- Debbie Grayson: Mark's mother.
- Amber Justine Bennett: Mark's ex-girlfriend.
- William Francis Clockwell: Mark's roommate and best friend.
- Cecil Stedman: Government liaison and head of the clandestine Global Defense Agency.
- Donald Ferguson: Cecil's assistant, Guardian of the Globe contact, and android.
- Art Rosenbaum: Superhero tailor and family friend.
- Rick Sheridan: Mark and William's classmate at Upstate University, turned into one of the Reanimen.
Superheroes
- Omni-Man: Mark's father Nolan, former greatest super-hero of Earth. Was formerly the most powerful super hero on the planet, displaying vastly increased levels of Mark's powers (strength, speed and invulnerability). He left Earth early on in the series after revealing to Mark his true intentions towards Earth. After he and Mark fought he found himself unable to kill Mark and left Earth. He later fell victim of the Viltrumite, scheduled to execution for his defection, but he's saved by Allen the Alien. Along with his new ally, and unbeknownst to Mark, he decides to start a campaign against the few pure-blooded Viltrumites still alive, out of love for his offspring.
- Oliver Grayson: Mark's alien half-brother. The result of a relationship between Nolan and a member of an alien race who have short life spans, growing at a rapidly increased rate compared to humans. Mark brought Oliver back to earth after Nolan was captured by the Viltrumites and he is now being raised by Mark's mother, Debbie. Olivers grows at an accelerate rate as the members of his species, although the longer lifespan brought by his Viltrumite ancestry keeps him from burning out. When he was few months old, he was already a toddler with a mature conscience and an adult vocabulary. Currently, he has the physical body of a young kid, with powers growing to be on par with Mark's. Taking the sobriquet of Kid Omni-Man, he attempts to rehabilitate Omni-Man memories in the general public. After mercilessly killing the Mauler Twins, he starts displaying the same sociopathic tendencies of the average Viltrumite, including a complete disregard for human life and a fanatical devotion to his father's memory. He has agreed to curb these tendencies, if only to placate Invincible.
- Atom Eve: Former classmate of Mark's and member of the Teen Team. Eve was created as a result of a government experiment to create super-beings. Eve was the only success of the project but was stolen away as an infant by one of the scientists who objected to the morality of the project, and raised as an ordinary child by an unaware family. She's currently in a romantic and sexual relationship with Invincible himself, with the blessings of her former lover Rex Splode. She was one of the heroes to defect from the Guardians of the Globe upon witnessing Cecil's mistreatment of Mark Grayson.
- Allen the Alien: A Champion Evaluation Officer who works for the Coalition of Planets. He travels on a tight schedule and tests the skills of various powered heroes on each planet in order to determine if there is a suitable "champion" to defend that planet. One of the few beings of equal if not greater power than the average Viltrumite, after a recent near-fatal defeat and subsequent recovery left him with vastly increased strength, far stronger than his previous near-Viltrumite level. With his newfound powers, he joins Omni-Man efforts in eradicating the Viltrumite influence from the cosmos.
- The Guardians of the Globe
- The Immortal: Apparently unkillable member, and later leader, of the Guardians of the Globe. Can be incapacitated, however.
- Black Samson: Lost his powers (and with them, his Guardian status) for a while before recovering them very abruptly.
- Robot: Former leader of the Teen Team and leader of the Guardians of the Globe until replaced by the Immortal. Recently revealed not to be an actual robot, he cloned a new human body for himself using Rex Splode's DNA. Recently became romantically involved with Monster Girl. He left the Guardians team upon witnessing the brutalities inflicted by Cecil Stedman to Mark Greyson to keep him in line. Along with the previous Teen Team members, he plans to create a counter hero team.
- Rex Splode: Former member of the Teen Team, now a part of the Guardians of the Globe. Recently was injured in a battle with the Lizard League, his left hand was lost and he was given a cybernetic replacement that can fire charged projectiles. He was one of the heroes to defect from the Guardians of the Globe upon witnessing Cecil's brutalities on Invincible.
- Dupli-Kate: Former Member of the Teen Team and the Guardians of the Globe. Was thought to have been killed in the fight with the Lizard League, but was recently revealed to be alive.
- Bulletproof: Initially turned down of membership in the Guardians of the Globe, Bulletproof did later join the team and is currently a member. (In a related note, Bulletproof was one of the proposed names for the title character before the series saw print.)
- Shrinking Ray: Former member of the Guardians of the Globe, presumed dead.
- Monster Girl: A girl who was cursed by a gypsy, now able to turn into a large troll like being with super-strength. A side effect is that with each change into Monster-girl, her normal self becomes younger physically. When cursed, she was in her late teens, however now she has the physical appearance of a much younger girl, whilst retaining her older mind-set. Robot is currently working on a way to stop her getting younger. She defected along with Robot, siding with Mark against Cecil.
- The Shapesmith: A Martian, disguised as human Rus Livingston, who uses his metamorphic powers to change his shape. Currently a fugitive of Mars for allowing the Sequid fiasco to occur.
- Darkwing II: Formerly Night Boy, The Original Darkwing's sidekick. He continued Darkwing's legacy but snapped and started killing criminals until Invincible apprehended him. He later reappeared leading an army of Reanimen to save the superheroes Doc Seismic abducted. After the mass defecting of several members Darkwing joined the Guardians of the Globe. Darkwing can teleport himself and others via the Shadow-verse using any shadow large enough to envelop him.
Enemies
- Mauler Twins: An evil scientist and his clone, whom both continuously argue as to which is the original, though secretly neither of them are sure. After an explosion one Mauler is scarred and the other was killed. When the new clone is created the scarred Mauler became dominant until he was killed by the new clone and cloned himself. Afterwards it is then argued who is the first and second generation clone. Recently both Mauler twins were killed by Kid Omni-Man; with no one alive to clone them it is uncertain if they will come back.
- Angstrom Levy: A disfigured genius with the ability to leap across dimensions (which resulted in Invincible teaming up with Spider-Man). Accidentally beaten to death by Mark. He has since resurfaced, but never makes his presence public again. Instead, he plants several probes around Mark Grayson's home, spying about his enemy and learning about his private life.
- The Viltrumite Empire: Invincible and Omni-Man's people. Initially, Nolan told Mark that the Viltrumites travel the galaxy, helping to improve other planets, when in actuality, they conquer planets. However, as the average Viltrumite sees his mission as a form of the White Man's Burden, they actually mean to improve other planets by taking over their civilizations and governments. Pure-blooded Viltrumites are a near extinct race, their number reduced to less than fifty individuals: however, they try to keep the fact a well-guarded secret, and they're able to interbreed with several humanoid species, granting their offspring a measure, if not every bit, of their amazing physical powers.
- Titan: A thug who formerly worked for Machine Head. Helped Invincible defeat Machine Head, then secretly took control of the crime organization. Titan can encase his body in super-strong, nearly invulnerable rock. Titan first appeared in Capes. Titan was a member of the Order until Mister Liu revoked his membership.
- Battle Beast: One of Machine Head's several henchman. Notable for putting Black Samson into a coma after fighting him, and nearly killing Invincible and the Guardians of the Globe, until he left due to becoming "bored". Even Cecil was shocked by his power. He is later released from imprisonment on the Viltrumite Prison Warship where Allen the Alien and Omni-Man were held, and Allen the Alien used his insatiable lust for battles to coax him into helping in their jailbreak.
- The Flaxians: Aliens from another dimension, in which time passes at a dramatically slower pace. This causes them to physically age what appears to be several decades in only a few minutes when they enter our dimension. First seen in Invincible: Family Matters, where Mark and Omni-Man fight off their invasion. When they returned, having developed devices to counteract the rapid aging they experience in this dimension. Mark and the new Guardians of the Globe fought them off, with considerably less ease. Once the anti-aging secret was revealed and exploited against them, the Flaxians began to age even more rapidly than before, and they again retreated. While individual soldiers seem to give heroes no particular trouble, the strength of Flaxian invasion forces seem to be based in their almost limitless number of soldiers.
- Machine Head: A crime boss with a robotic head. Titan and Invincible arrived to take him down, but were defeated by six super-powered henchman, including Battle Beast. All seemed lost until the new Guardians of the Globe arrived and assisted. Battle Beast, after defeating Black Samson and Bulletproof, deemed the people of this world no challenge to defeat and simply left. About this time, all the other henchman were defeated and Machine Head was brought to justice.
- D.A. Sinclair: A young and reclusive scientist at Upstate University, is the creator of the "Reanimen", robotic zombies intended to be "the soldiers of the future". He is responsible for kidnapping Mark's friend, Rick Sheridan, and has turned him into the first living Reaniman. Taken into custody, he is now in the employ of Cecil Stedman, and has seemingly engineered an army of "Reanimen," each one's armor emblazoned with an image of the American flag.
- Doc Seismic: A villain with special gauntlets that enable him to induce earthquakes. He was first encountered by Invincible at Mount Rushmore where his gauntlets threatened to collapse the mountain. Invincible stopped him, but Seismic forced himself into a chasm of his own creation where Invincible presumed he was dead. Instead, Seismic returned in issue 4 of The Pact having discovered underground beings known as the Magmanites whom he learned to command and, with their help, escape from prison. This resulted in all of Invincible's Terran rogues gallery escaping, but Seismic was unexpectedly caught in the ensuing confusion by The Shapesmith. Seismic has revealed that he has creatures larger and even more powerful than the Magmanites under his control, whom he has used recently to capture almost the entire hero community, before his eventual defeat.
- Rus Livingston: An astronaut accidentally left on Mars, he's been attacked and made a host of the psychic Sequids. Livingston and the Sequids have set their eyes upon Earth. After the Sequids were seemingly defeated, and the real Livingston was returned to Earth, it turned out two Sequids were hiding in Livingston's digestive system, and are planning at regaining their numbers and overtaking Earth.
- The Lizard League: A group of lizard-themed terrorists, they are parodies of fictional reptile based villain groups The Serpent Society, HYDRA and Cobra. The Lizard League consist of King Lizard, Komodo Dragon, Salamander, and Iguana; their secret headquarters lies in the Florida Everglades and bares a striking resemblance to a Cobra Terrordrome. An attempt by the Lizard League to take over a nuclear missile silo resulted in a conflict between them and the Earth-bound members of the Guardians of the Globe. In the resulting conflict Komodo killed Dupli-Kate and Shrinking Ray and Rex Splode killed Iguana and Salamander. Komodo died after biting Rex's hand off, causing his head to explode. King Lizard, who hid until the fight was over, sneaked up behind Rex and shot him in the head, but Rex was able to knock King Lizard's aim off, causing him to shoot the top of Rex's forehead and after being shot was able to knock King Lizard down before collapsing on him. Brit was sent to provide assistance but was too late; as Brit began reporting to Cecil that everyone was dead, King Lizard attempted to shoot Brit in the head. Unfazed, Brit augments his report. King Lizard was the only member of the Lizard League to survive the battle.
- Furnace: An anarchistic villain with a massive steam-powered iron suit armed with dual flame-throwers and jets. He is actually a man made entirely of liquid heat from which the suit earns its power. He was one of the villains hired by Machine Head and established a grudge against Invincible for damaging his suit earlier, relegating him again to the world of freelance villainy.
- Magnattack: A villain for hire with the ability to apparently push metal objects away from him, hence his massive armor plated suit. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe.
- Kursk: A Russian villain for hire who can electrify single targets at a time. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe. He is seemingly a member of the now-deceased Red Rush's rogues gallery.
- Tether Tyrant: A freelance villain with a vest which houses elastic appendages which can pull and throw victims around. The pink appendages also display fantastic strength, such so that Mark is unable to break free through conventional means. The vest seems to bestow some level of superhuman strength on its wearer, as Mark is quoted saying "that actually hurt!" after being punched by the Tether Tyrant. The appendages themselves seem to be sentient, and are referred to as an "alien pet" by Magmaniac in issue 47. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe. Escaped from prison during Doc Seismic's rampage, and recently returned to crime. Notable for being the first villain, along with Magmaniac, to encounter Marks brother, Oliver, who aided Mark in defeating the pair.
- Magmaniac: A freelance villain who is part lava. Was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by Invincible and the Guardians of the Globe. Escaped from prison during Doc Seismic's rampage, and recently returned to crime, only to be defeated and captured by Mark and Oliver.
- Master Mind: A criminal with the ability to mentally control the bodies of large groups of people. His three weaknesses are the range of his powers (stated to be around five hundred yards), the fact people under his control can still control their own voices (which they usually use to cry for help) and specially built earplugs that the Pentagon supplies to various superheroes. Master Mind speaks in an uneducated manner and always appears to be listening to a portable music player when confronted by superheroes. He first appeared in Brit.
- Bi-Plane: An age-old villain who believes in using old-fashioned technology for his attacks. He was going to unleash an outbreak upon a city after learning he had cancer of the lymph nodes, but Immortal resolved the issue by tossing Bi-Plane out of Earth’s atmosphere. Bi-Plane was last seen circling Earth’s orbit as a dehydrated corpse.
- The Elephant: A character solely created for Invincible to fight before the Guardians of the Globe's collective funeral. Mark himself has referred to the Elephant as a "lame Rhino rip-off". Elephant was seen reading a book in his cell in the Pentagon's super villain prison and was last spotted escaping with the rest of the villains.
- Isotope: A character modeled after real life comic book store owner James Sime of Isotope Comics in San Francisco. Has the ability to teleport himself and others. Originally a minion of Machine Head, he abandoned his boss and sided with Titan when the latter overthrew Machine Head and took over his criminal empire. He was a member of the Order until he sided with Titan over Mister Liu; teleporting Liu and company to the Great Wall of China.
- Giant: An eight year old boy who was pulled into another dimension where he transformed by a sorcerer into gigantic orange-red cyclops. He became a king in the other dimension until he was teleported back by one of his enemies. He appeared in New York City and demanded to made President of the United States; he was taken out by Invincible and the Guardians of the Globe. He later escaped from a research facility near Willow Creek, Montana. He no longer wanted to be president; he only wanted to go home. His rampage was stopped by Invincible and Wolf-Man.
- Multi-Paul: Dupli-Kate's Brother and a member of the crminal organization called the Order. He first appeared tring to take down Rex Splode for the role he believed Rex played in his sister's apparent death. He was taken down by Invincible sent to Stronhold Prison where he was held until Mister Liu freed him.
- Fightmaster and Drop Kick: Two time-travelling martial arts masters who stole the Declaration of Independence. They were almost defeated by Invincible and Rex Splode until Multi-Paul intervined. They escaped on their Time Sled in the confusion.
- Mister Liu : Miter Liu is an elderly asian cyborg and high ranking member of the criminal organization called the Order. He can project his soul out of his body; which takes the form of giant oriental dragon. First seen in dragon form in the first issue of Invincible fighting Omni-Man in Taiwanon TV. Later he approaches Titan to free his agent Multi-Paul. When Titan fails he revokes his membership and demands he turn over complete control of his organization to the Order before being teleported away by Isotope; He vowed revenge on Titan.
Kirkman's superhero universe
In 2003 and 2004, Image and Robert Kirkman published several other superhero series: Tech Jacket pencilled in a manga style by E.J. Su (cancelled at #6), the 3-issue Capes Inc. series drawn by Mark Englert and three oneshots starring Brit, the first two with artwork from Tony Moore and the third with artwork by Cliff Rathburn.
In 2007, Brit was launched as an ongoing full-color series written by Bruce Brown, with artwork by Cliff Rathburn. The series is overseen and edited by Robert Kirkman. In late 2007, a two issue mini-series starring Atom Eve was released.
Tech Jacket was first collected as a digest sized, black and white graphic novel and later reissued in regular sized, full color and a cover scheme similar to Kirkman's other trade paper backs. Capes was collected as a trade paperback in summer 2007, and the three Brit one-shots were colored by Val Staples and published as a collection in 2007 as well.
At first shown to barely coexist in the same universe, the characters have since been integrated into Invincible's book. Tech Jacket was an ongoing series that tied into Invincible #27, and the character has been seen in the background of various battles during the series. The characters from Capes have also been supporting characters seen mainly in large superhero battles Invincible participates in, and the series ran as a back-up in the Invincible book starting with #27. Brit has had an even less substantial role, appearing a couple of times in the aforementioned brawls (understandable considering that after the last book Brit was somewhat-retired). In The Astounding Wolf-Man, Art, Invincible's tailor, appeared, designing the title character's costume. Wolf-man has also appeared in Invincible #48 & 49.
Connection to Image's superhero universe
Invincible, along with Firebreather and other new Image superhero characters, debuted in an issue of The Savage Dragon, and has since appeared with several of the characters in The Pact mini-series. Robert Kirkman has written a Savage Dragon: God War mini-series and two Superpatriot mini-series, establishing the friendship between Superpatriot's wife Claire and Invincible's mother in the pages of Invincible #13 and later. The Savage Dragon connection is mostly downplayed and Invincible follows its own continuity, tied mainly with previously mentioned satellite Kirkman characters. Invincible also appeared in the fourth issue of Jay Faerber's Noble Causes, and was seen at the funeral for Captain Dynamo, father of the characters in Faerber's Dynamo 5. Similarly, Invincible #48 features cameo appearances from several Savage Dragon characters, as well as both Dynamo 5, and many of Kirkman's own creations, while an earlier issue featured a funeral for the Guardians of the Globe, at which many Image characters, including Savage Dragon and Jack Staff, were in attendance.
Invincible #60 is a "done-in-one crossover event" with characters such as Spawn and Witchblade making appearances. During the invasion of Invincible's evil counterparts from alternate dimensions we saw all Image heroes, like Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade, Darkness, Firebreather or Pitt fighting invaders alongside with Invincible, Guardians of the Globe, Brit and Wolf-Man. [1]
Collected editions
Trade paperbacks
Every one of the trade paperbacks is named after a sitcom.
- Vol. 1: Family Matters (ISBN 1-5824-0320-1 collects Invincible #1-4)
- Vol. 2: Eight is Enough (ISBN 1-5824-0347-3 collects Invincible #5-8)
- Vol. 3: Perfect Strangers (ISBN 1-5824-0391-0 collects Invincible #9-13)
- Vol. 4: Head of the Class (ISBN 1-5824-0440-2 collects Invincible #14-19 and Image Comics Summer Special)
- Vol. 5: The Facts of Life (ISBN 1-5824-0554-9 collects Invincible #20-24 plus #0 and the origin stories from the back of #25)
- Vol. 6: A Different World (ISBN 1-5824-0579-4 collects Invincible #25-30)
- Vol. 7: Three's Company (ISBN 1-5824-0656-1 collects Invincible #31-35 and The Pact #4)
- Vol. 8: My Favorite Martian (ISBN 978-1-58240-683-1 collects Invincible #36-41)
- Vol. 9: Out of This World (ISBN 978-1582408279 collects Invincible #42-47)
- Vol. 10: Who's the Boss? (ISBN 978-1607060130 collects Invincible #48-53)
- Vol. 11: Happy Days (ISBN 978-1607060628 collects Invincible #54-59 & The Astounding Wolf-Man #11, due July 1, 2009)
Hardcovers
- Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 1 (collects #1-13, plus extras)
- Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 2 (collects #14-24, #1/2, #0, parts of #25, plus extras)
- Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 3 (Collects #25-35, The Pact #4, plus extras)
- Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 4 (Collects #36-47, plus extras)
- The Complete Invincible Library Vol.1 (collects #1-24, #1/2, #0, parts of #25, plus extras)
Other collections
- Invincible also appeared in Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #14, which was collected in Marvel Team-Up Volume 3: League Of Losers ISBN 0-7851-1946-9. This story occurs "between the pages" of Invincible #33.
- In November 2006, the Official Handbook to the Invincible Universe was released. This two-issue series told the origins of all of the characters seen in the series so far, and was done in the style of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, including similar covers. The series was collected into a trade paperback in November, 2007.
Adaptations
The comic has been turned into an audiovisual story by Gain Enterprises using the Bomb-xx process, and is broadcast on MTV2 and downloadable to mobile phones and from iTunes.[2]
Cast
- Patrick Cavanaugh ... Invincible
- Mark Fountain ... Nolan Grayson
- Victoria Kelleher ... Debbie Grayson
- Wendy Allyn ... Atom Eve
- Stan Kirsch ... Robot
- Jeff Shuter ... William
- J. Anthony McCarthy ... Criminal
- Tom Ohmer ... Cecil Steadman
- Hosea Chanchez ... Mauler Twins
- Daniel Kirschner ... Criminals
- Eric Wolfgang Nelson ... Rex Splode
- Keith Stone ... Allen the Alien
- Mike Connel ... Derek
- Bill Garnet ... Art Rosenbaum
- Leslie-Anne Huff ... Dupli-Kate
- Paul Kresge ... Teen Bomb
- Cynthia Sophiea ... Mrs. Thatcher
In popular culture
- In the King of the Hill episode "Behind Closed Doors", Bobby is seen reading a comic entitled Unvincible, whose title and cover art is similar to the first issue of Invincible. Also on King Of The Hill, in the 13th season episode "Earthly Girls Are Easy," Buck Strickland plays with an Invincible action figure when planning his entrance at the benefit concert.
References
- ^ Invincible's Done-in-One Crossover, Comic Book Resources, December 11, 2008
- ^ A Comic Book Superhero Is Headed to Small Screens, New York Times, July 14, 2008
External links
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